Album Review: My Morning Jacket, Pt 1: The Singles

Ladies and gentlemen, the long-awaited self-titled album My Morning Jacket has finally arrived!

Released on October 22nd, My Morning Jacket is the first true album to be released by the band since 2015's The Waterfall. Yes, technically The Waterfall II was released in 2020, but considering the album was virtually a compilation of songs that didn't make the first rendition, it cannot be considered a true album (I did, and still do, greatly enjoy a few songs off of that album, however.) Nevertheless, My Morning Jacket has been on the horizon for some time now, and I'm excited to bring my thoughts on the album to this page.

Starting with the singles:

Regularly Scheduled Programming (3:45)

My Morning Jacket started with Regularly Scheduled Programming to announce the upcoming release of the album. This song feels rather like a stereotypical single: it isn't all that deep, and its purpose is primarily to drum up excitement for future songs. And, admittedly, Regularly Scheduled Programming does a fantastic job of doing just that. Beginning with a soft synth backdrop and a prelude of sorts from frontman-extraordinaire Jim James:

Diamonds are growing in the garden

Raindrops are filling up the sea

Excuse me, you know I beg your pardon

For this interruption

Now back to regularly scheduled programming

The verse itself is hard to decipher, and I haven't exactly been able to pull some deep meaning from it (I think you would find that looking for meaning in some of these verses is a bit of a pointless venture) but the theme of the song seems to address the various vices of the current world: drugs, technology, etc. It's difficult to tell exactly how he feels about the current situation of the world, but the lyrics probably aren't worth reading too far into.

Getting to the music: man, MMJ absolutely thrives on songs like this. Regularly Scheduled Programming is primarily focused on synth, with the bass and main melodic lines all coming from some sort of synthesizer, but guitar and bass can be heard at some points in the song. And, of course, the classic MMJ drumset remains in the back, providing an authentic feel to an otherwise futuristic-sounding song. They once again strike a wonderful balance between electronic and vintage sound.

The song lacks a major chorus, with had enough? providing basically the only form of chorus through the entire track. Overall, Regularly Scheduled Programming feels more like an exciting introduction to a deeper album than an intricate song itself, and it plays that role with excellence.

Rating: 7.5/10

Love Love Love (3:42)

This song is a whole lotta fun. Very similar to Regularly Scheduled Programming, Love Love Love feels like a song intended to drum up excitement. And once again, it does a very good job. Compared to the previous single, I think I prefer Love Love Love for the role that both songs are given. This song focuses much more heavily on guitar, with a slightly muted electric guitar emerging as the common theme throughout the song. A roaring guitar solo overtakes basically the entire second half of the track, providing perhaps a little more depth than the first single, but other that, Love Love Love feels a tad repetitive.

The more you give yeah, the more you get now

Go tell it to the world

That verse serves as the chorus in a similar way to the "chorus" of Regularly Scheduled Programming, with a few other verses accompanying it throughout the first half of the song. James is accompanied throughout the back half of the song with a backing vocal track that sings, "Love love love" repeatedly, which adds another layer to an otherwise relatively simple song. Bells of sorts also assist in layering, so a fantastic job done by the percussionist(s) on this song, as well as whoever mixed all of those layers.

The track itself seems to be a rallying cry of sorts to spread love and kindness, which is pretty typical of a My Morning Jacket song, but it serves its purpose in a song that remains fun despite the repetition.

Rating: 7.75/10

Complex (4:18)

As the longest and most complicated of the three singles, Complex is most definitely my favorite. MMJ seems to have decided to follow a slightly different method with their songwriting for this album, as the three singles all follow a very formulaic chorus pattern, with choruses made up of questions or repeated statements, almost speaking to the listener. In the case of Complex, the chorus reads:

Hey

You get what you pay for

Hey

What are you waiting for?

See what I mean? If you listen to Regularly Scheduled Programming, Love Love Love, and Complex, you'll be struck by that similarity. Complex strikes the balance between the first two singles, with a nice mix of synth and guitar. The tempo is significantly faster, with a much heavier guitar feel throughout the whole song, and a slightly more minor key. The bass is very straightforward, and not quite as fun as the first two singles, but the guitar and percussion feel a bit more developed, and play a larger role.

Jim James has a wonderfully unique voice, and he does a remarkable job of conveying an intense tone throughout the track. Unlike Love Love Love, there isn't a backing vocal track, so James has the track to himself. Guitar develops behind the vocal track throughout the track, especially after the first chorus, as well as a synth that plays during the guitar pseudo-solo (pseudo because it kind of just repeats a riff). James does a great job of balancing with the instrumentals, especially considering the tendency of the instrumentals on this track to be a tad overbearing.

Lyrically, Complex seems to zero in on the struggle of understanding the "complex" thoughts, signs, and behaviors of people. I'm not exactly sure how that plays into the chorus, but that message seems clear in the verses. It ends with the initial verse, but extremely slow and distorted, which I'm not a big fan of. Overall, I prefer this song to both prior singles, and Complex is a fitting final single before the release of the full album.

Rating: 8/10

Thanks for reading! The full release of the album was October 22nd, and although I've been listening to it virtually nonstop, I haven't quite developed enough of an opinion on the songs to release my thoughts, so I'll get that out here as soon as I can. In the meantime, give this album and other music by My Morning Jacket a listen. I truly cannot recommend their music enough, and I look forward to reviewing the rest of it for y'all.

(Oh yeah, sorry about the whole multi-month break thing. I'm gonna give the whole blogging thing another shot; we'll see how that goes. Feel free to let me know if you have any ideas for posts.)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Emory